Fleck comforted by Stormers phase-play

To turn things around against the Brumbies on Saturday, the Stormers have to deal with a kicking game and win the breakdown battle.

Cape Town – If the Stormers hope to turn things around against Brumbies on Saturday, they will have to find a way to deal with a kicking game and winning the breakdown battle.

Those are the two major areas of concern for coach Robbie Fleck after he experienced his first defeat in charge with the 18-13 loss to the Sharks at Newlands on Saturday night.

The Stormers stretched the Sharks with ball-in-hand in the first half, and built up a 10-3 half-time lead, but then got sucked into the Sharks’ penchant for a physical duel and percentage tactics in the second 40 minutes.

Of course, the controversial penalty try and yellow card to Siya Kolisi just after the break had a massive effect on the final outcome as it brought the Durban side level at 10-10. Having to defend with 14 men and scrum with seven “was quite vital”, said co-captain and tighthead prop Frans Malherbe, who quipped “it’s very difficult to scrum with a centre behind you”.

Despite that, though, the Stormers still had opportunities to win the game, but didn’t finish off a number of try-scoring chances, while their defence let them down right at the end as JP Pietersen slipped a tackle to set up Joe Pietersen’s match-winning touchdown.

“Obviously we expected that (Sharks kicking on the Stormers’ back-three). I didn’t expect anything from the Sharks – that’s their mindset. They certainly didn’t try and run at us, and they exploited us with a kicking game and we are going to face the same thing with the Brumbies,” Fleck said.

“So we need to sharpen up there, obviously. Like I said, there were three, four, maybe five clean takes in the air where their wingers got up ahead of ours. But the beauty of this game is that we can work on it this week.

“At the end there, it became a bit of a scrap through their tactical kicking. And whether it was tactical or not, they just bombed it up in the air and put us under pressure. But from there, they didn’t really get the ascendancy on us – I felt at the end there, a couple of scrums should’ve gone our way, and it didn’t.

“But credit to them, they brought us into that sort of brawl and they thrived in that, and I guess we got frustrated.”

While Kolisi was unlucky to be adjudged by TMO Marius Jonker to have kicked the ball out of Cobus Reinach’s hand in the penalty-try incident, the Stormers will need to maintain better discipline if they want to take revenge against the Brumbies for last year’s playoff qualifier defeat.

Schalk Burger, who battled to provide a cutting edge on attack in a linking role at No 8, conceded 10 extra metres for back-chatting New Zealand referee Mike Fraser for a breakdown penalty, which ensured that Joe Pietersen was within range to slot over a 50-metre three-pointer that put the Sharks into a 13-10 lead with 30 minutes left.

Also, Sharks flank Marcell Coetzee was able to slow down the Stormers’ ruck ball and won a few penalties at the breakdown, and that is where the outstanding Brumbies duo of David Pocock and Scott Fardy will be tough to counter on Saturday at Newlands (7.15pm kickoff).

“No, it (Burger’s back-chat) is (disappointing). And he’s apologised for it afterwards, but I guess he was lured into that frustration, with what was going on at the breakdown. But as a senior player, he is better than that, and obviously it was a crucial three-pointer that they got there,” Fleck said.

“But again, there was enough good stuff out there for the team to take a lot of confidence out of this game. We were taking them wide, we were taking them through the middle, we had those little attacking kicks in behind.

“We are on a different path to them (the Sharks), and we certainly take comfort in the fact that we can build so many phases on attack and put the defence under pressure. They play in a certain style and we want to play a different style, and we are going to keep working on that.

“Overall, I thought our breakdown was good. We can look at it and see whether those were penalties against us or not, with Marcell – I think that will be a focal point of our review.

“But overall, I felt we had good continuity and we just couldn’t get any territory in that second half. Credit to the Sharks with their kicking game, they just kept pinning us back. I guess we did the same thing to them in the first half, but with ball-in-hand.

“We need to be able to handle a kicking game against us. And I think it was evident last year when we played the Brumbies that they put us under immense pressure with tactical kicks and contestable kicks on our back-three, and likewise at the breakdown, Pocock and Fardy and Co.”

– ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za

@IndyCapeSport